Stargazing
by Christina Love
Summary: A Percabeth one-shot in which Annabeth teaches Percy some constellations. A brief moment of fluff, but not a whole lot, since this is wayyy before TLO. This is also my first fanfic, so I need constructive criticism more than ever. Hope you enjoy!


**Hey guys! TA-DA! I just made a fanfic! Anyway, the idea of this story came to me a long time ago when I was rereading the Sea of Monsters, and I came across this line on page 97: "I was checking out the constellations Annabeth had taught me- Sagittarius, Hercules, Corona Borealis..." And I was like, hmm, when DID Annabeth and Percy ever go stargazing? So I decided to write this fanfic! RxR peeps! I need it!  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO series! But if I did... that would be AWESOME.**

**Now whatcha waiting for? GET READING ALREADY! **

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Third-Person POV:

Annabeth discreetly sneaked out of the Athena cabin, careful not to wake her cabin mates. She trekked to the stretch of beach at Long Island Sound where the Camp Half-Blood kids gathered to watch the fireworks at certain times of the year. It was late at night, of course, and Annabeth's main focus was to go over there to think. An added bonus was do so was that she would get to see many, many constellations because there were tons of stars speckled in the deep sky. In fact, she could see the constellation of Leo all the way from here, just by picking out a few stars and visually connecting them to form a lion. When she reached her destination, she plopped down on the sand and watched the waves overlap the beach, then retreat. The perfect place to sort/calm her mind.

Why did Luke have to turn evil? They had promised family, which made the situation worse to Annabeth. And Thalia's tree… it was rotting. Another problem was her stepmother and father. They just didn't seem to give a crap about her. Annabeth pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly, while her blond curls whipped around her face in the wind. She closed her eyes. If only all of this could go away…

"Hi, Annabeth," said a voice behind her, accompanied by soft footsteps in the sand. Annabeth, startled, turned her head in the direction of the person to see a raven haired, piercing sea green eyed boy, towering behind her, obviously curious about what she was up to.

"PERCY?" Annabeth shrieked. "How long have you followed me out here?! Why did you leave Tyson? He could come out here!" Her time alone was ruined. I mean, he was her friend and all, but she hated it when people invaded her privacy. Stupid Seaweed Brain.

He shrugged. "I spotted you walking out of your cabin. I didn't know what you were doing, so I came out here, curious. And Tyson doesn't know, 'cause he can sleep through a storm. So I could easily escape. Sorry if I ticked you off."

Annabeth sighed. "Fine. Now sit down."

Percy obeyed and stretched out his legs using his arms for support. "Now, tell me, what are you doing out here?"

Keeping her eyes on the horizon Annabeth answered, "I was just… thinking about all the bad things that were happening at Camp Half-Blood. And… you know, family matters." She twisted her camp necklace, doing like she always did when she was anxious about something. "I wished that things, mostly here, would get better. But they aren't. We have worse things to face."

Percy listened and nodded. He absolutely agreed. Ever since they found out that Luke had joined the Titan army, things kind of went downhill from there.

On that very unhappy note, Annabeth randomly looked up and said, "Look at those stars, Percy. Do you want to learn some constellations? I see lots from here."

Percy blushed a little at the first thing she said, but for some reason the first thing that escaped from his lips was, "yeah, why not?"

Immediately, she pointed to a whole group of them. "See those right there? If you connect that cluster from that one star, to that one, and so on, you might be able to see Hercules. It doesn't exactly show it, but if you look at them hard, as a whole, you can form a picture in your mind."

Percy visualized Hercules, exceptionally strong and brave, a real hero plastered right there in the sky. After a couple of minutes or less, he could make out the body and then every other feature. It was amazing.

"See him, huh? Do you want to learn another?" Annabeth asked, glad that this was something that could take her mind off her worries. After Percy replied with nod, she showed him Corona Borealis. "It's next to Hercules, on his right. Supposed to look like a crown." That one was easy. He could "see" it right off the bat.

"Now, right there is Sagittarius." She let out a small laugh.

"What?"

"It's… Chiron! Haha!"

"Um, what?"

"The Sagittarius is a centaur with a bow and arrow. Just like Chiron! It reminds me of him every time I think about it!"

"Oh. So which stars is he?"

"Those." Annabeth pointed. "You may not see it right away because it is sometimes known to resemble a teapot, but that's not the accurate picture. It was always supposed to be a centaur with a bow and arrow."

Now Percy could laugh too. It somewhat did look like a teapot, but it was Chiron (the camp director and trainer of heroes) nevertheless. And when he did laugh, they locked eyes and smiled. Percy felt a sudden pang he hadn't felt before. Annabeth was well… fun sometimes and… cute. For a second, he couldn't take his eyes off her and then the next second he looked away, VERY embarrassed. They were always friends, and always will be. Just that. Friends, and every little thing that came with it.

Afterwards, Percy was taught some other constellations. And since they didn't want to be eaten by harpies, they finally went back to their cabins after a long night.

"Goodbye, Seaweed Brain."

"See you later, Wise Girl."


End file.
